Richard CdeBaca’s tenure as chief of the New Mexico State Police was a brief and controversial end to a long, productive career. Notes recorded by CdeBaca during decades as a state policeman reflect dramatic changes in how governors, legislatures, the courts, prisons and the press changed within an evolving society. It wasn’t always tidy.

CdeBaca remains an ardent supporter of police, but author David Roybal prods the long-time cop into telling concessions. Civil rights, as they are defined today, did not get in the way of daily patrols. CdeBaca acknowledges that State Police at times were poorly prepared for events and transformations, like the influx of hippies and the drug culture that followed them. On multiple issues, CdeBaca offers information that went beyond the headlines that weave through this book.

David Roybal, after editing his high school and university student newspapers, went on to become one of New Mexico’s most respected professional journalists. A New Mexico native, he has reported on governors from David Cargo to Susana Martinez. He also has reported from some of the state’s most isolated communities to address pressing needs of education, health care, government accountability and crime prevention. His stories on political campaigns of President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress have been distributed nationally. Chief of Police is David’s second book. His first, Taking on Giants, Fabián Chávez Jr. and New Mexico Politics, was published by the University of New Mexico Press.